Update on Proposed Changes to Discipline Process

05/26/2011 —

Dear CAS Members:

During the CAS Board of Directors meeting on May 15, 2011, the Board discussed proposed changes to the U.S. actuarial discipline process, which were described in an announcement sent to CAS members on May 11. These changes, which are intended to increase the efficiency of the process and create greater consistency among discipline outcomes, were discussed by the Board over several meetings dating back to September 2009. In March 2010, the Board agreed to recommend amending the CAS Constitution and Bylaws to implement a joint disciplinary process.

At its most recent meeting, the Board reviewed the specific changes to the wording of the CAS Constitution and Bylaws that would be needed to allow the CAS to participate in the joint disciplinary process. Following that review, the Board passed a motion to recommend that the Fellows vote to approve the amendments to the CAS Constitution and Bylaws.

The amendments would enable the CAS Board of Directors to enter into an agreement for joint discipline with other participating organizations, while retaining control of the discipline of our members. As included in the attached red-lined version of the CAS Bylaws, the CAS Board, if approved by a two-thirds majority vote of the CAS Board members voting, would be granted the authority to enter into a joint disciplinary agreement, provided that:

No CAS member will be disciplined unless a majority of the panel judging that CAS member is composed of CAS members and a majority of those CAS members concur with the discipline.

The authority to impose penalties of expulsion or suspension for more than two years for any CAS member will remain with the CAS.

Those requirements are a key feature of the proposed Agreement on Joint Discipline. The current working draft of the Agreement is attached; however, work on the Agreement is on-going, particularly with respect to Section 9, which deals with administrative and legal issues.

The proposed revisions to the CAS Constitution and Bylaws will be voted on in conjunction with the 2011 CAS elections to be held in August. At that time, a revised version of the proposed Agreement will be provided, with more details in Section 9. However, please note that the fundamental plans for the implementation of a joint discipline process are not expected to change.

For additional details on the joint disciplinary proposal, please see the May 11 announcement and accompanying set of questions and answers about the proposal and the hypothetical case study that compares the current disciplinary process to the proposed process.

You are welcome to send any comments and questions directly to the CAS office at office@casact.org.